No 1 dredger on the River Clyde, 1876.
The Clyde was originally a very shallow river and it was deepened in the late 18th and early 19th century to permit large vessels to sail up to the city's harbour. Dredging was required to prevent the shipping channel from silting up. The dredger's mechanised chain of buckets scooped up mud and silt from the river bed, and dumped it on barges or on the river banks.
Dredger No 1 was employed during the construction of the Queen's Dock in the 1870s.
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Museums
Keywords:
docks, dredgers, dredging, No 1 dredger, Queen's Dock, River Clyde